He can’t do it and hasn’t been able to do it at this level for some time now, yet managers keep picking him then wondering why he’s not putting a shift in. His body simply can’t handle it, Ten Hag knows this and yet he puts him on to give him shit about not putting himself about. He should have been berating himself on the touchline for playing him and expecting something.
9
Season Average Rating
- Appearances
- 19
- Goals
- 2
- Assists
- 1
- Yellow cards
- 0
Remember when he was be there most Arsenal striker to never have Arsenal'd
Now he's the most Saudi League striker waiting to Saudi
Now he's the most Saudi League striker waiting to Saudi
'Performances'
Talented but needs to go. Hung around far too long now and doesn’t have the consistency or drive.
Friendly reminder that the geniuses in charge of the club sanctioned a 250 grand a week contract for this guy...
Hindsight is easy. He was 23 at the time, didn’t have the injury issues he does now and still looked like one of the most exciting young forwards in the game.
Yep we've got a few for the Saudi league now, not sure they'll be the mugs some think they are to take them off our hands though.
It was still a stupidly high amount to offer him.
Please sell him!
Might as well move the club to Saudi now. We might have a chance to win a league title.
Look at Martial is his brother. I’m fuming here.
https://x.com/shivutd4/status/1731297024987840577?s=46&t=wxpuqJtaIkz2kcV7xGORhg
https://x.com/shivutd4/status/1731297024987840577?s=46&t=wxpuqJtaIkz2kcV7xGORhg
This club in a nutshell.
Abysmal overall, again, but Martial had a five second spell when he actually put in some effort.
Complete, total and utter waste of space.
Please leave our football club ASAP.
Please leave our football club ASAP.
Why is he still here, this club is a bogus operandi.
Not to pile on, but when he does score or play well II'm happy for him because I can imagine the persistent injuries must have been frustrating, but it doesn't compel me to think there's more.
As it was seasons ago, I don't actually expect anything from him because he just never shows consistency when he's available. Once again, he is what he is, and cannot be relied upon.
As it was seasons ago, I don't actually expect anything from him because he just never shows consistency when he's available. Once again, he is what he is, and cannot be relied upon.
Can't wait until Ratcliffe's cycling doctors start sprinkling crystal meth on this guy's breakfast cereal. Might actually see him move.
Yesterday he actually started off quite well I thought. He was pressing and trying to organise others to press the for whatever reason he kinda stopped. Seems like a mountain out of a molehill being made out of his gesturing with ETH just seems like he got fed up with others not putting in effort so stopped putting in the effort which for a senior player is not something you should be doing.
I’d honestly get rid of a whole host of our players.
I’d honestly get rid of a whole host of our players.
He's a waste of space, time and money. This salary could have gone to a better player, but of course, Man United kept giving him chances after chances till he lost all his possible value in the market and is now basically a deadwood waiting for his contract to run out. We could have got some nice cash from him and maybe even, imagine that, bought a better player if we had taken the decision to sell him 3 or 4 years ago.
TBF, from Martial POV, perhaps he thought he already exerted himself enough (never a hard worker, and not very fit at the moment). It's like expect turd not looking like turd after some polishing heh.
Same the same sequence, Rashford was even worse. No attempt to close down Schar running in his direction. He looked like he even shifted himself out of the way to make it easier for Schar to run through.
I think if you showed Martial that clip, his reaction would be, "well I don't know why I bothered making any attempt to follow Schar at all." And he'd be bloody right - his attempt at a chase is only useful in so much as it adds forces a quicker decision from the ball carrier there. But the forwards behind Martial are basically standing still, meaning they've already made Schar's mind up for him.
As you rightly say, Rashford was worse in that sequence, and I'd add that Bruno's very poor there too. I can kind of see why Martial gave a little back at Ten Hag when he had a go after that. His main crime was getting beaten too easily by Schar, but nobody else reacted accordingly.
How about assessing this clip from a tactical perspective in order to understand Martial’s grievances?
What did Martial do wrong here apart from not sprint (which he has not done for years due to injuries)?
He approached Schar, he shadow pressed him by cutting off the passing lane back to both Pope and Lascelles. He did the right thing by forcing Schar into our crowded midfield. Rashford is the one who did not press Schar when the conditions were ripe to force a high turnover.
And yet Ten Hag is shouting at Martial, a far easier target than Carrington academy product and highest earner Rashford!
Martial has every right to be annoyed and argue back at the unfair criticism. He has every right to feel he is being targeted or scapegoated.
Ten Hag was cooked tactically by Eddie Howe, who correctly identified that United’s man-oriented press can be easily breached by ball carrying. A man-to-man press can only work if every individual presses with the same intensity. There’s a reason why it is not used by the top managers, and those who do use it, such as Bielsa, are prone to drubbings.
Furthermore, if Ten Hag’s system was going to be based on a high press, surely he would pick Antony and Hojlund, who are far better and more intense pressers than Martial and Rashford? The whole system for Newcastle away was confusing. He wanted a high-press from the front, and yet the back four was camped near its own box!
But of course Ten Hag avoids accountability and gets off scot-free once again. And then posters in this thread will point to Martial’s alleged attitude problems, and complain that he is giving backchat and when he should just shut up and accept Ten Hag’s rollickings lying down.
The sooner people start to assess the manager from a tactical perspective, the better. This is when you realise the extent to which he is failing these players, how incompetent he is and why he does not have the authority to adopt this disciplinarian approach of his.
Too many people believe that Ten Hag has an unconditional right to never be questioned or challenged. Why? What has he done to earn this respect? Who are your loyalities to? The club that has brought you immense happiness in your life or the manager who is dragging its prestige and dignity through the mud week-by-week by treating it like his personal dictatorship where he has a free reign to make baffling decision after baffling decisions without any check or balance on his abuses of power?
Is this clip meant to make him look bad or what? Because he's the only one I can see chasing after the player with the ball. Everyone just stands and watches until it's too late
I don't agree with this at all. Look how he approached Schar, it was half arsed and why are you cutting the passing lane back to a keeper or the other Centre Half? Watch the clip again and pause at 1 second - is this a "crowded midfield?".
One criticism you could give of the team is we weren't high and compact enough so if Martial was told to press like that, we've just given Schar a huge space to run into - but I'd go back to the point, why are you cutting off a passing lane to the GK or a CB who are both vastly shitter on the ball than Schar? You should be pressing Schar so he is forced to pass to Pope and Lascalles.
Finally, why can't Martial catch Schar? Martial is meant to have pace, not exactly what Schar is known for. Should have some pride in not just getting easily walked past by a CB.
I don't think I we can really comment on the tactical decisions, because they're clearly not being undertaken - that's the bigger problem. We just need to look at what McKenna and Carrick are doing with players that listen and carry out instruction. We were told they're fecking useless under Ole and couldn't coach a Sunday league team. This isn't clearing ten hag of blame, he clearly can't convey his message succinctly enough for these dopes to understand or not charismatic enough to convince them it's the right thing to do. Either way, that just the difference with elite managers, they can do that with any set of players - Ancelotti probably the best example.
Are you honestly blaming Martial for issues with the press they has been instructed to do and questioning his decisions?
Have a look at this thread and see how the Ten Hag man-oriented press works: https://x.com/threadmanchaza/status/1731365541741302012?s=46&t=g4jc8BwIdrqu-1qnmoLecA
It’s the duty of the wide-forward (Rashford in this case) to press both the wider centre-back and the full-back. Rashford let Schar go because he was focused on Livramento. This is the fault of the man-to-man pressing system. An efficient pressing team like Newcastle or Liverpool that have a ball-oriented press would cluster several players together to close the space that Schar could break into.
You ask why Martial can’t catch Schar. For the same reason that Malacia can’t be an aerial threat on set-pieces or why Maguire can’t be a flying winger running in behind. He is physically incapable of it, which is why I said the manager was better off picking Hojlund and Antony if he wanted an aggressive press.
You’re saying Martial should have pace. When was the last time you saw Martial sprint? 2015-19 Martial is very different to 2023 MarHis body has been destroyed by repeated injuries and playing through them. To minimise his physical inability to press with the intensity of a Cavani or Weghorst, you would have him blocking passing lanes and shadow pressing instead.
Your last point about tactical decisions not being undertaken is bizarre to say the least. Are you overseeing training sessions? Or can you analyse tactics to know whether instructions are being followed or not? There are clear themes in the dysfunctional United set up right now that have remained unchanged.
Also, McKenna and Carrick’s instructions were being carried out. They both currently set up in a similar way to how we did in the Ole era. The Ronaldo signing derailed the project very quickly and they did not adapt to it. For the brief period that Carrick took over he tightened the ship and found a way to work around Ronaldo’s presence or dropped him totally.
Workshy
Anonymous
Sulk
Tepid
Embarrassing
Relaxed
Think that just about sums him up
Anonymous
Sulk
Tepid
Embarrassing
Relaxed
Think that just about sums him up
rashford is billions times worse.
Pedestrian. If football was played in such a way where running would be prohibited, he would be pretty good.
Martial is the most consistent striker in the last 10 years. All other strikers failed or left save for Rashford who is more of a left winger.
Last edited:
Hopefully, we'll have a 1M offer from Saudi or Italy this winter for him and will leave.
It would be great for us to get a striker on loan so Martial can stay at home and leave
It would be great for us to get a striker on loan so Martial can stay at home and leave
How anyone can look at that sequence and conclude that Martials pressing was good is almost impressive.How about assessing this clip from a tactical perspective in order to understand Martial’s grievances?
What did Martial do wrong here apart from not sprint (which he has not done for years due to injuries)?
He approached Schar, he shadow pressed him by cutting off the passing lane back to both Pope and Lascelles. He did the right thing by forcing Schar into our crowded midfield. Rashford is the one who did not press Schar when the conditions were ripe to force a high turnover.
And yet Ten Hag is shouting at Martial, a far easier target than Carrington academy product and highest earner Rashford!
Martial has every right to be annoyed and argue back at the unfair criticism. He has every right to feel he is being targeted or scapegoated.
Ten Hag was cooked tactically by Eddie Howe, who correctly identified that United’s man-oriented press can be easily breached by ball carrying. A man-to-man press can only work if every individual presses with the same intensity. There’s a reason why it is not used by the top managers, and those who do use it, such as Bielsa, are prone to drubbings.
Furthermore, if Ten Hag’s system was going to be based on a high press, surely he would pick Antony and Hojlund, who are far better and more intense pressers than Martial and Rashford? The whole system for Newcastle away was confusing. He wanted a high-press from the front, and yet the back four was camped near its own box!
But of course Ten Hag avoids accountability and gets off scot-free once again. And then posters in this thread will point to Martial’s alleged attitude problems, and complain that he is giving backchat and when he should just shut up and accept Ten Hag’s rollickings lying down.
The sooner people start to assess the manager from a tactical perspective, the better. This is when you realise the extent to which he is failing these players, how incompetent he is and why he does not have the authority to adopt this disciplinarian approach of his.
Too many people believe that Ten Hag has an unconditional right to never be questioned or challenged. Why? What has he done to earn this respect? Who are your loyalities to? The club that has brought you immense happiness in your life or the manager who is dragging its prestige and dignity through the mud week-by-week by treating it like his personal dictatorship where he has a free reign to make baffling decision after baffling decisions without any check or balance on his abuses of power?
No, I told you what I had an issue with, it's how he pressed and your thread just backed up my second point I put forward of the rest of the team not being more compact and higher up.
I'm sorry, but if Martial can't sprint at all (which I don't believe for a second anyway), there's literally no point of him being on the pitch. We are set up to play fast transition football, he literally has to sprint all the time, he just didn't bother as much this time. I have no idea what shadow pressing means, so had to look it up, but cutting off the passing lanes is all well and good, but you still haven't explained what use cutting off the passing lane to Pope and Lascalles? Why can't Martial see the gaping space he's telling Schar to run into? There's not a chance Ten Hag would be like, you need to press to make sure Schar doesn't give the ball to Pope or Lascalles - they'll really kill us in possession. Let Schar run into midfield, he's not had any history of being good on the ball or shooting from distance.
For arguments sake, if we agree he has no pace and he's trying to minimize running, the way he pressed was stupid and only increased his running. So it goes back to my points above, he cuts the wrong passing lanes and then the team is not compact or high enough to make his decision to press in the way he did a good one.
You're the one saying he's following instructions, so are you overseeing training sessions? Your thread you posted says they're not following instructions; I can see from the lack of understanding where the block is, to the whole dysfunctional nature of our pressing (Rashford is an obvious example), the way Maguire sets up to play out from the back vs Martinez, etc there's no way Ten Hag he's telling them to do all these conflicting things. It's more likely his message isn't clear and he's confusing them, or they don't believe in his philosophy.
Have you watched how Ipswich and Middlesborough play? There's no chance we ever saw those patterns of play under Ole. Carrick managed us for 3 games, really not sure we can take much from Carrick's time as caretaker
His reaction to Ten Hag Sat would have seen him play his last game at Ajax. It's simply because we have nobody else experienced he's still getting a game. There has to be a striker in January, then this guy can run his contract down wherever he wants.
He did the wrong thing. Shadow pressing is meant to close down on the opponent while cutting passing lanes, but Martial was way too far for him to feel any sort of pressure during the whole sequence.
In fact, looking at it tactically
Rashford was on their LB, Bruno on Bruno and Garna on their RCB, meaning none of them could double-team without leaving their man free for an easy pass. What Martial should have done is stand in front of Schar and cut the course towards Bruno in the center so he's forced to play it to:
- The RB who gets pressed by Rahsford, Bruno cuts the course towards Bruno and Martial cuts the backpass to Schar so they have nowhere to go.
- The GK who has to either go long or give it to their RCB who gets pressed by Garnacho and they're in a slightly worse position than at the start of the clip. (If Dalot is tight enough on the RB to prevent the outlet there).
- The RCB and it's more of the same except there's less time for Garnacho and Dalot to get tight.
It seems that Rashford has become the latest scapegoat for all our woes, but he's not responsible this time. Actually, Martial made the same mistake Rashford did during his infamous walking moment. Blocking the passing course without realizing that he's left an avenue for Livramento to run into because AWB got sucked in by Gordon. Or do you think AWB is to blame for that action? (considering the part of the pitch where it happened, I think it's on both and EtH too for failing to drill the tactics into the players)
He was shyt 5 years ago when we gave him a new deal (thanks Ole) and he’s still shyt now.
Who could have seen that coming.
Who could have seen that coming.
Did he ? Can't say I've ever thought that of him (minus his first few months here)
Excellent post
United have the option to extend his contract by a year, all hell should break lose if he's given it. He has no value to protect, he's on 250k a week and not even sure the Saudi's will move for him.
Spot on, explained it better than I could and the bolded part is key as well. I also agree ETH has blame because he clearly can't communicate or instill his philosophy to those players. If you look at Ange, he's got better players to do that in Son, Kulu and Johnson, all willing runners and pressers - but he's got his front line functioning properly. Now it does eventually get to the player in terms of responsibility, because how do they expect to play otherwise? If they aren't willing or can't learn, then they're not fit for the squad - I'd say in any squad going forward either, as we're always going to play with pressing from the front now.
So we have a £250k a week centre forward who can't sprint. Right. The state of this club...........